_AVALON LOUNGE_ Open 24 hours

[Brinty]

There's one explanation for an expression that I heard many years ago. If my memory serves me correctly, it was on a British radio series called My Word.

The story goes that in the 1400s and 1500s, on warships the canon balls were kept below deck in very cramped conditions with very little headroom. They had boys of eleven or twelve years who's job it was to carry the canon balls up to the canons. These boys were referred to as monkeys because of their crouching in the cramped space and their peculiar gate as they carried the heavy canon balls.

Came a time when they were replaced by a large brass plate with a rim around it where the canon balls were stacked in a pyramidal fashion beside the canons. In the northern winters, seawater blown onto the decks would freeze. Now, when water freezes, it expands. Canon balls drenched with seawater rolled off the brass plates when the water froze and expanded. The brass plates which had replaced the boys referred to as monkeys, became known as brass monkeys.

So, when the weather was extremely cold, it was said to be cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.

[Humble Janitor]

I'm a sucker for kitties. Nice pic.

Interesting history lesson as well.

[Brinty]

It's been a bit dull and gloomy with all the bad news lately, so how about we join that British group, The Barron Knights as they entertain us with a few well known (and not so well known) songs.


YouTube - Barron Knights Gobbledegook

YouTube - Have You Seen Her

[Luminari]

Brinty you are the King of random bands I have never heard of!

Thanks, Im always learning.. and you constantly surprise me.

[altenergy]

http://altenergy2012.blogspot.com - Bill/Kerry will be interviewed on Dec 13th in the morning, and Kerry will join us for the roundtable discussion that same evening. All times listed are EST (East coast U.S.).

Todd Hathaway
540-679-9365

[morguana]

http://www.psyking.net/id36.htm

The Enteric Nervous System: The Brain in the Gut

The gut has a mind of its own, the "enteric nervous system". Just like the larger brain in the head, researchers say, this system sends and receives impulses, records experiences and respond to emotions. Its nerve cells are bathed and influenced by the same neurotransmitters. The gut can upset the brain just as the brain can upset the gut.

The gut's brain or the "enteric nervous system" is located in the sheaths of tissue lining the esophagus, stomach, small intestine and colon. Considered a single entity, it is a network of neurons, neurotransmitters and proteins that zap messages between neurons, support cells like those found in the brain proper and a complex circuitry that enables it to act independently, learn, remember and, as the saying goes, produce gut feelings.

The gut's brain is reported to play a major role in human happiness and misery. Many gastrointestinal disorders like colitis and irritable bowel syndrome originate from problems within the gut's brain. Also, it is now known that most ulcers are caused by a bacterium not by hidden anger at one's mother.

Details of how the enteric nervous system mirrors the central nervous system have been emerging in recent years, according to Dr. Michael Gershon, professor of anatomy and cell biology at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. He is one of the founders of a new field of medicine called "neurogastroenterology."

The gut contains 100 million neurons - more than the spinal cord. Major neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, glutamate, norephinephrine and nitric oxide are in the gut. Also two dozen small brain proteins, called neuropeptides are there along with the major cells of the immune system. Enkephalins (a member of the endorphins family) are also in the gut. The gut also is a rich source of benzodiazepines - the family of psychoactive chemicals that includes such ever popular drugs as valium and xanax.

In evolutionary terms, it makes sense that the body has two brains, said Dr. David Wingate, a professor of gastrointestinal science at the University of London and a consultant at Royal London Hospital. "The first nervous systems were in tubular animals that stuck to rocks and waited for food to pass by," according to Dr. Wingate. The limbic system is often referred to as the "reptile brain." "As life evolved, animals needed a more complex brain for finding food and sex and so developed a central nervous system. But the gut's nervous system was too important to put inside the newborn head with long connections going down to the body," says Wingate. Offspring need to eat and digest food at birth. Therefore, nature seems to have preserved the enteric nervous system as an independent circuit inside higher animals. It is only loosely connected to the central nervous system and can mostly function alone, without instructions from topside.

bou x

[Luminari]

Mark your calendar. The Geminid meteor shower peaks on Dec 13th and 14th when Earth passes through a stream of debris from extinct comet 3200 Phaethon. The Geminids have been intensifying in recent years, and 2009 could be the best year yet. Forecasters expect 140+ meteors per hour under the dark skies of a new Moon.

[mudra]

Hello folks this vid is too cool ..
I share it with you with LOVE

mudra

[Brinty]

Originally Posted by mudra

Hello folks this vid is too cool ..
I share it with you with LOVE

mudra

YouTube- PENGUIN BLOOPERS

I think the problem here mudra, is that there is only one toilet and tempers get a bit fraught.

[giovonni]

Hey Brinty

you better tell luminari and dan to stock-up!

I have a feeling its going to get busy in here tonite

[Brinty]

Originally Posted by giovonni

Hey Brinty

you better tell luminari and dan to stock-up!

I have a feeling its going to get busy in here tonite

YouTube- FALCO - Rock Me Amadeus ( film version )

Oh giovonni, why do I keep getting these flash-backs?

http://coyoteuglysaloon.com/newyork/

[morguana]

Brinty, thank you for your kindness, I am quite happy to let life unfold as I walk it, and love every minute of it, so as long as it is lived without regret, full of love and happyness, I am content.
I am so pleased that you live in beauty with yours truely, that is sooooo wonderful, my sister and I come from a long line of soul loves, so I was bought up knowing it happens :-)
lots of love
bou x

[Luminari]

Congratulations on becoming a moderator Boudicca (orange looks good ) hope you still get time to continue your great posts.

I never thought I'd see the day when the Lounge became public view...

Strange but lots of fun times ahead I'm sure.

[morguana]

Public view? Lounge? Oh man! Bang goes a good hidey place!
*finger to lips* Shhhhh luminari, I'm feeling all shy......
Bou x

ps giovonni that made me giggle :-)

[Luminari]

Originally Posted by boudicca

Public view? Lounge? Oh man! Bang goes a good hidey place!
*finger to lips* Shhhhh luminari, I'm feeling all shy......
Bou x

ps giovonni that made me giggle :-)

Or is it only *members* that can see it? maybe you could find out now that you rule the seventh heaven of moderator land.

Love,

L

[morguana]

Originally Posted by Luminari

Or is it only *members* that can see it? maybe you could find out now that you rule the seventh heaven of moderator land.

Love,

L

or would logging out, taking a peek to see if it's members only
and then logging back in work? I'll give it a go now.
I really must go to dream time now *yawn* so long and thanks for all the fish, folks,
love
bou x

[Luminari]

Originally Posted by boudicca

or would logging out, taking a peek to see if it's members only
and then logging back in work? I'll give it a go now.
I really must go to dream time now *yawn* so long and thanks for all the fish, folks,
love
bou x

Sorry my bad, must be getting lazy.. yep I checked and we are still invisible to the rest of the world *phew* this is a members only affair.

Sweetest Dreams Bou.

Enjoy the brews Brinty.

[morguana]

hay brinty, lets try some of your home brew.......even though its wakey morning time here

hehe luminari, lazy bones! x

good morning avalon


bou x

[burgundia]

So Boudicca , you are a moderator now...I better watch what i post here...

Congratulations on your new job!

[morguana]

hehe, burgundia thank you (((((hugs))))), hope you have a fab day
happy monday
bou x

[giovonni]

Thanks Brinty

Speaking of flashbacks

mine are a bit hazy

[Luminari]

Originally Posted by giovonni

Hey Brinty

you better tell luminari and dan to stock-up!

I have a feeling its going to get busy in here tonite

Originally Posted by Brinty

Oh giovonni, why do I keep getting these flash-backs?

http://coyoteuglysaloon.com/newyork/

Shall we start the conga line now or later? Dan where are you..

[Luminari]

[Brinty]

What I would like to know is, how the blazes did anyone find out that I had just made, and sampled, my very first home brew?

[Luminari]

Cheesy nightclub music *check*


Dancing people *check*





Liquid refreshments *check*



I think we might be ready.